Danielson

North Six, Brooklyn, NY: 13 May 2006

As the Danielson band members took their places in their uniforms (a cross between flight attendant, military formals, and Scientology's Sea Org), I told the underage kid next to me that the pretty woman in front of us was Daniel Smith's wife. "What a wife!" he said-- though, he might have said, "What a life." That's what you see, though, when you're looking at Daniel Smith play with his family. Other bands, collectives, Noisemakers, and Sprees may look like family, but Danielson's the real deal, a musical biography. Siblings move on, get married, add branches and buds to the family tree, and Smith's work expands likewise. The X's on the underage kids' hands might have looked like crosses, but the Danielson show was really about community more than Christianity.

But while the recording process can expand to fit the Danielson extended family, in concert the band is somewhat limited-- which is a good thing. Ships, though more cohesive than previous Danielson efforts, is still a disparate, ramshackle affair. The instrumental limitations of playing live (Smith didn't pull all of Deerhoof and Serena Maneesh onstage to play their parts) made it easier to hear the songs as basic singer/songwriter-with-guitar compositions. "Bloodbook on the Half Shell", the album's ever-building centerpiece, retained the solo feel of its beginning throughout the whole song. And Smith, sweating from the hot stage lights, was more the front person here than at any Danielson Famile show-- he asked the soundman to "turn down Elin's mic," which in a way means "less of my wife, please, thanks." Likewise, his band stayed quiet but smiled broadly during his brief between-song banter.

Near the show's end, Smith explained that the concept behind the song "Did I Step on Your Trumpet" is longhand for "I'm sorry." "It'll be the catchphrase of the summer!" he said before launching into its galloping beat. It was fun to see how his sister and wife responded to his vocals: When he sang, "Yes I know how to be quiet," the women stopped repeating his lines to sing instead, "He thinks he knows how to be quiet." The short encore included the only two non-Ships songs of the night. Smith invited the audience to sing along with "Cutest Lil' Dragon", and as everyone repeated, "The dragon ate the love," we all became part of Smith's communal vision.

There was a rumor that Sufjan Stevens would join the band on stage, but although he was in the audience, it didn't happen. I was initially disappointed, but it ultimately made sense. JL Aronson, director of the documentary Danielson: A Family Movie, was in the audience filming the show for what he called "a new, bonus ending" to his film. Though this wasn't a Famile show per se, it's the rightful culmination of Smith's work to date, one that fully encapsulates his songwriting methods and the community themes behind the Danielson project. It's a happy ending.